The Beginning
by Freakygreeneyes
Summary: JAM all the way! Just another account of the epic meeting of Jim and Pam. Might turn into something bigger, I'm not sure, so please review if you like it! I will listen! Also, my first Office fanfic
1. Chapter 1

-1**Chapter One: The New Girl**

The first time she walked through that door into the bland office with it's buzzing fluorescent lights, his heart immediately went out to her. He was surprised by his strong instinctual reaction to her, this instinct to protect. She didn't really look like his type at all. Curly dirty blonde hair that bordered on frizzy and was pulled back by a conservative barrette. The harsh lights washed out her face, which was at most just pretty, and her clothes at their best were frumpy. Jim didn't necessarily consider himself the most handsome devil on the block, but his sense of humor was positively magnetic and he had dated his share of beautiful girls. But there was something about this girl's eyes that drew him in, the sense of nervousness they held at the time, and the potential of laughter that peeked out ever so slightly. She looked so lost that he was just about to get out of his seat to help her when Michael came barging out of his office. Jim flinched in sympathy for the quiet girl, knowing the kind of greeting that she would receive.

"You must be Pam!" Michael said with a ringmaster's gusto, shocking the girl with an overly intimate hug.

"Um, yes, hi-" The girl began but she was quickly interrupted by the overly outgoing Michael.

"Pam Pam bo bam, banana fama mo mam…" He chanted, accompanying his bizarre little chant with some kind of "Night at the Roxbury" head-bobbing action. The girl, looked like she was torn between running for her life, or bursting into laughter. Jim felt himself smiling at that twitch in the corner of her mouth that she was trying to hard to resist. She scanned the office quickly and somewhat shyly, as if looking for an ally. Jim humored her by catching her gaze and rolling his eyes skyward. What had been only a hint of a smile soon turned into a full-on grin in seeing that she wasn't alone in her disbelief.

Jim was shocked by the almost complete transformation in the girl's demeanor as soon as she smiled. Jim's first thought was that it was like the sun coming out from behind the clouds, but he had to laugh at himself for thinking something so cliché. Still, it was hard to see the brilliance of her smile and compare it to anything less bright than the sun. Her eyes just lit up, and Jim felt another strange tightening in his chest. _What the hell is up with me today? _he wondered. Eager to entertain her further, Jim made a face as Michael continued his ridiculous tangent, and the new girl had to fight not to giggle.

"Well my pretty, I am your overseer Michael Scott, and this is our office, where are the magic of Dunder-Mifflin paper supply happens!" He grinned in what he thought to be a cheerful manner, not realizing that it bordered on creepy. "Let me give you the grand tour Madame." he announced, offering the new girl his arm, as if escorting her to a ball. Her smile quickly dropped and she shot Jim a wild, desperate look that said _Oh dear God, I just needed a decent job for a little, just some extra cash, please God do not make me have prolonged contact with this man… _But apparently God wasn't listening at that moment, because Michael pretended not to notice the girl's hesitation and he awkwardly linked arms with her anyway.

"So, this is the ol' bullpen right here, with sales here and accounting over there, uh, Human Resources is back there but you really don't need to know where that is, conference room is there, and THIS is my office!" The girl looked confused by this whirlwind tour, and looked even more desperate as Michael led her into his office and shut the door behind them. Jim's felt his stomach churn in pity for this girl, and after a quick minute he got up from his desk and rapped on the door of Michael's office. He knew that despite Michael's…off-color behavior, his boss actually meant well, but the new girl didn't know that and she was probably sufficiently freaked out.

"Whaaat is the secret password?" Michael's voice floated though the door in a disturbing, high pitched witch's cackle. Jim sighed, recognizing Michael has having gone into full "Impressing a Girl" mode.

"Open sesame?" He guessed, half-jokingly, and was surprised when Michael answered "Oh…actually, that is it. Come in!"

Jim opened the door and saw the new girl seated in the chair across from Michael's desk, that was scattered with colorful and childish knickknacks. Michael could have just done the appropriate boss thing and sat in his own chair, but of course instead he had chosen to stand right in front of the girl, leaning against his desk, towering over her. Jim felt that twinge of protectiveness again, right in his gut. As soon as the new girl saw him open the door, Jim was pleased to see her expression change quickly from poorly-concealed nervousness to absolute relief. _ Well she'd probably be happy to see anybody 'cept Michael right about now_ Jim thought.

"Hey Michael, I just wanted to let you know that I finalized that deal with Henderson & Sons today." Jim said, quickly formulating an excuse to hide his real reason for visiting Michael's office.

"Cool, cool, cool, man! That is sweet!" Michael replied in his strained attempt at "street" lingo. He coughed and circled his desk to sit in his proper chair, and Jim couldn't help but notice how a little tension slipped from the new girls body. "Well as long as you're here, we might as well start introductions. Jim, this is our new receptionist Miss Paaamela Beesly!" Michael announced her name as if she was a contestant on "The Price is Right", and only two years practice of dealing with Michael kept Jim from laughing at the tackiness that was Michael Scott. "Pam, this is one of our top salesmen, Jimmay Halpert, he's a good personal buddy of mine!"

"It's just Jim." Jim smiled genuinely as he extended his hand, not even bothering to correct Michael's "good personal buddy" comment.

"Hi Jim. I'm Pam." Pam smiled, inserting her hand into his. Her hand was warm and if it was slightly damp from first-day nerves, Jim certainly didn't notice. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, thrilled by this first contact and her smile. He was just captivated by that smile. The handshake definitely lingered a little bit longer than was customary. Jim decided right then and there that her hair was definitely more curly than frizzy, brown with blonde highlights rather than dirty blond, and no one looks good in fluorescent lighting anyway. 


	2. Chapter 2

-1**Chapter 2: Just a Receptionist?**

Jim couldn't help himself from looking over at the reception area at least once every few minutes. The new girl (Pam, he couldn't keep calling her the new girl in his head or he knew he would say it to her face) was definitely a sight better than the crotchety old receptionist who had just retired to Key West. Jim was _definitely _not sad to see that old toad go. Pam had picked up the whole system fairly quickly, while Jim was almost positive that the old receptionist had retired from Dunder-Mifflin without ever having figured out how to put someone on hold. But Jim could hardily blame her, seeing as she was probably around before electricity (much less telephones) anyway.

"What are you looking at?" Someone whispered in Jim's ear and he jumped about a foot in the air, not hearing Dwight come up behind him. Jim wrinkled his nose at the beet-like smell that coated Dwight's breath.

"Jesus Dwight, someone really needs to turn you onto flossing." Jim said, pinching his nose. Teasing Dwight came as second nature to him, and he rarely needed to think of ways to make fun of him. Dwight usually just presented it to him. He was a very mockable person.

Dwight quickly straightened and covered his mouth self consciously. "I'll have you know," he said pretentiously "My grandfather, Dwight K. Schrute, never flossed a day in his life, and he lived to 100! And my dental hygiene is of no matter to you!" Jim simply shrugged and turned back to the Sudoku game on his computer.

"So have you heard anything about the new receptionist?" Dwight's voice was right next to Jim's ear again, and Jim sighed in exasperation.

"Dwight, seriously, are we going to have to have the 'personal space' talk again?" Jim asked plaintatively, leaning as far as he could from Dwight's toxic breath. Finally he just resigned himself to the fact that the sooner he answered Dwight, the sooner Dwight would go away. "All I know about her is that her name is Pam Beesly, she just started here, and she's 26" (AN: I don't know Pam or Jenna Fischer's real age, so I just picked a random one) Jim only knew Pam's age because Michael had called him in early to discuss whether or not the age difference between him and Pam could be an "issue" in their "relationship". Jim shuddered at the thought.

"Hmm…" Dwight looked at Pam suspiciously, but that's how he was to most everyone anyway. Jim quickly saw an opportunity to mess with him. _God, I can't get over how sad it is that one of my main purposes in life is to annoy Dwight!_ Jim thought to himself.

"Well… I have heard something else." Jim said with fake hesitance, knowing that that's all he needed to do and Dwight would be hooked.

Jim was right. "What is it?! What have you heard?" Dwight was instantly crouched by Jim's side, intent on his every word. Jim made a big show of being secretive.

"You can't tell anyone about this okay?" Jim whispered, mock scrutinizing the office for eavesdroppers.

"Of course. You have my word of honor as a Schrute and as a volunteer Sheriff's Deputy on the weekends." Dwight said seriously, eyes darting around the room.

_Geez, what is that worth?_ Jim thought before continuing. "Well," he whispered "Michael told me early that I should be careful with what I say around her. What do you think that means?" Jim grinned inwardly, knowing that Dwight would take his feigned ignorance seriously.

"By Thor, that means she must be a spy for corporate you imbecile!" Dwight hissed angrily. Despite his attempt for discretion, Dwight was still loud enough to catch Pam's attention, and she looked up from her computer at the reception desk. Jim just waved and smiled, but Dwight froze. "Just…be,,,cool…" he whispered out of the corner of his mouth. "Act…natural…" Dwight then smiled hugely (a strange look for him) and he waved in what he considered a cheerful manner. Pam's eyebrows furrowed a bit, she waved back cautiously, and went back to work. Dwight sighed in relief, and Jim flinched once again at his bad breath.

As soon as Pam looked away, Dwight mumbled "I must investigate this" before running back to his desk.

Jim snickered quietly, and reminded himself to follow up on this more later. But for now, he had nothing to do, so he might as well go get more acquainted with Pam. _Just to be friendly_ he told himself, even though he didn't believe it.

He got up from his desk and, shoving his hands into his pockets, he walked over to the reception area. Pam was sorting through a large stack of messy-looking folders that covered the large, circular desk. She was so engrossed in her work that she didn't even hear him approach, and didn't notice still as he leaned again the desk on his forearms. "Hey" Jim said, and he immediately regretted it. _Great opening line Jim. Yup, that was just stellar. She's already swept off her feet_ he berated himself as Pam looked up.

"Hey Jim" she smiled, and he couldn't help but feel a little excited just at the fact that she remembered his name.

"So, how're your new receptionist duties going? I hope it's not too much of a burden." Jim asked as he fiddled with the sleeve of his shirt.

"Not too bad. I have a question though."

"Yeah?"

"Was the receptionist before me crazy?"

Jim laughed. "Well, lets just say that she was…socially inept. And unorganized. And…oh, let's just call her senile." Pam giggled, which urged Jim on. "I will forever miss her fragrance however…a mixture of wet dog and mothballs." Jim made a face and Pam laughed again. "Why do you ask? Are things a little bit messy back there?"

" 'A bit' is probably the understatement of the century." Pam sighed. "I just can't figure out her system! It's not alphabetical, not chronological…I'm just terrified it's autobiographical or something." Pam rested her head on her hand, glaring at the folders.

"Autobiographical like in 'High Fidelity'?" Jim asked, hoping she'd get the reference.

Pam smiled "Yeah, that's one of my favorites movies."

"Me too! John Cusack is, like, a total babe!!!" Jim joked, adopting a high-pitched Valley Girl accent and fluttering his eyelashes.

"Ohmigod, I _know_! He's got such great _hair_!" Pam exclaimed, catching on right away. Jim chucked, but stopped quickly after he saw the smile fade from Pam's face. He saw her looking past him, and he turned to follow her gaze. He coughed to cover up his laughter as he saw Dwight, camouflaged horrible, hiding behind one of the office's sickly plants. "Okay," Pam whispered "Since you sit next to that guy, maybe you have a clue as to why he's been staring at me all day."

"Well," Jim leaned forward so Pam could hear him but Dwight could not. "I kinda sorta told him that you're a spy from corporate. I hope you don't mind, I'll totally just call it off if you want, he's just _so_ easy to prank and…" Jim trailed off when he noticed that Pam didn't look upset or anything. Instead, she had this new kind of mischievous glint in her eyes.

"I'm in." She grinned. "What's the game plan?"

xxxx

Please please review and let me know what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

-1**Chapter Three: Lunch Date**

Pam sat at her desk, writing on a notepad. It was her second day, and Dwight's curiosity was about to get the better of him. His eyes flickered from her to his computer repeatedly, and after what appeared to be after much internal debate, he got up slowly and approached the reception area. He moved carefully, and in an odd crouching manner as if stalking a deer. Pam looked up, and Dwight froze. Knowing the jig was up, he finally approached the desk directly, a superficial smile on his face. "Hello Pamela." He said jerkily.

Pam smiled back just as brightly. "It's just Pam, Dwight."

Dwight's eyes widened "How do you know my name?"

Pam immediately tried to look as shifty as possible. "Oh…um, because of…the label on your desk! It says your name on your desk." She sighed with obvious, albeit false relief.

"Oh. But of course." Dwight said stiffly. "What are you writing?" he asked suddenly.

Pam quickly covered up her notepad with her sleeve. "Nothing. I mean, um it's a grocery list. Of food. For groceries. It's definitely not like names or anything, or notes on people in the office. Um, maybe you should get back to work so we don't get in trouble. For not working." Pam smiled again.

Dwight squinted his eyes, and slowly walked back to his desk, where he furiously began to make notes on a piece of paper labeled: "**CORPORATE SPY INVESTIGATION: PAMELA BEESLY**"

Jim grinned at seeing this, and quickly looked to Pam, who winked at him. Still smiling, he got up and went over to her desk. "Hey, um, it seems there's been some suspicion about you in the office. I'm afraid I'm going to interview you at Cugino's over lunch."

Pam's cheery demeanor suddenly seemed to fade just a little bit, and she bit her lip. "Actually, I can't…" She said awkwardly. "Um, I'm kinda having lunch with my, uh, fiancé. He works down in the-the warehouse, you know?"

Time stopped for just a moment in Jim's world. After a moment, realizing Pam might have noticed, he quickly shook himself and said hastily "Oh, uh, that-that's totally okay. That's totally cool. Maybe another time when Dwight won't be suspicious." He smiled and made a hasty retreat back to his desk.

So he'd met a girl. A really nice girl, who had his sense of humor, and was stunningly pretty in her own way. She played pranks with him, and she did it _well_. And, of course, she had a fiancé. 'Cause, why wouldn't she? That would make life _way_ too easy and convenient.

Jim decided to actually do some work, just to take him mind of…things. Like the pretty receptionist. But just as he was picking up the phone to make a call, Michael came bursting into the room in his regular fashion.

"Pa-a-a-a-a-amela!" He sang, in a surprisingly on-key, faux-opera voice. Pam winced a little, both at the volume and suddenness of it all, but hid it well. She was adapting quickly. "Any messages for me milady?" _He's in fine jester form today,_ Jim thought tiredly. What had started as a pretty good day when he rode up with Pam in the elevator had quickly gone downhill.

"Um, no, no new messages. Not since you asked me 15 minutes ago." Pam smiled weakly.

"Oh really?" Michael grinned, and leaned against the desk. "You've been counting the minutes since you last saw me? Did you really miss me that badly?" Pam tried to speak in her own defense, but Michael just continued "It's okay Pam, really it is. It's okay to want me. Alllll the ladies do anyway!" He chortled. That was really the only word for it, "chortled".

Pam gave up trying to say anything in her defense. "No new messages." She said curtly and blandly, and then she busied herself with her computer. _Probably playing Sudoku,_ Jim smiled a little to himself. He'd taught her how to play yesterday, and she had quickly become as addicted as he was.

Michael looked a little put off by Pam's blunt response, but shook it off and strutted back to his office anyway. Jim was about to take him ham and cheese sandwich into the break room when he heard Pam talking in a hushed voice on her cellphone.

"But Roy, I thought we were kinda going to go out to lunch together and like, spend some time- No, I understand, I don't want to take you away from your friends or anything, I just- Well sometimes I feel like you spend more time with Darryl instead of me…" Pam sighed, resting her head in her hand. "No no no, it's okay. I'll just uh, eat lunch here. That's totally fine. Okay, have a good time." Jim slowly started to walk to the break room, waiting just a little bit and hoping to hear-

"Hey, um Jim?" Jim grinned, but composed himself before he turned around, managing to look composed and mildly surprised. "You still up for Cugino's?"

Jim slid his sandwich back into his bag, helped Pam slide on her pink coat, and ran to open the door for her. It seemed like he just couldn't stop smiling lately.


	4. Chapter 4

-1AN: Haha, sorry if I'm not totally true to the legacy of Cugino's, because I've never been there! I don't know if it's a regional thing (I live in New England) but I'd never even heard of it before "The Office". So excuse me if I fumble through this chapter a little bit.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Chapter Four: Spitball Wars**

Jim opened the door of Cugino's and ushered Pam through, out of the rain. He couldn't help but notice how the raindrops clung to her curls, lit by the lights of the restaurant. _Ugh, if I start to write a sonnet about her, someone just kill me_, Jim thought to no one in particular. They stood for a minute brushing the raindrops from their jackets while waiting to be seated.

It was awkward, just for a second as they perused their menus, but they soon began to laugh and joke easily. They talked about favorite movies ("Monty Python and the Holy Grail") and favorite books (they both liked Kerouac). He discovered her love for art, and she sketched him a quick portrait on her napkin.

"Wow." Jim said, looking at the hastily-done drawing.

"You're just saying that." Pam made a face, blushing a little bit.

"No, I'm totally not. Seriously, this is _really_ good. I mean, if it wasn't done with crayon on a Cugino's napkin, I would totally sell this for money." Pam laughed and Jim grinned back at her. "But since it's both of those things, I guess I'll just have to keep it."

"You don't have to do that, I mean unless you really want to." Pam blushed again. Something was bothering Jim, and it was only until now that he noticed what it was. Why was she so unused to praise that she automatically took a genuine compliment for sarcasm? "I mean, I guess I've thought about taking art classes or something, but Roy thinks it's a waste of money, so…" Pam trailed off awkwardly.

Jim's eyebrows furrowed, and he was about to speak when two people a few tables away broke out into an argument. "Please Mike, I really don't feel well, I just want to go home…" A young, blonde girl, probably in her twenties was pleading to her boyfriend.

"Hell no baby! I'm hanging out with my buddies! Why do you always have to be such a drag?!" The girl looked close to tears, and her face flushed when she realized that all other conversation in the restaurant had died out and people were watching them.

"Mike, I just…" Her lip began to tremble. Her boyfriend just rolled his eyes, already a little big drunk despite the fact that it was only 12 AM. It made Jim a little bit sick to hear the girl plead like that only for the man to be so callous.

"Oh God, are you gonna start blubbering now? Well I'm not going to take you home, so forget it. Find your own damn ride home." And with that, the man turned back to his friends. It seemed it took everything the girl had not to burst into tears as she called a taxi.

Jim whistled. "Wow, _what_ an asshole." He mused, shaking his head slowly. Pam nodded, looking down at the table. Jim noticed something a little evasive in her behavior, and he wondered if she was truly upset by this. "Hey there killer, you okay?"

"'Killer'?" Pam looked up, smiling. Jim grinned back. "Yeah, I'm fine, just…what an asshole." She sighed. She was looking at the man, who was already back to joking and laughing loudly with his friends. When she looked back at Jim, there was an angry glint in her eyes that took Jim aback. "What kind of man treates his girlfriend like that?!" She asked.

"No kind of man." Jim shrugged. "A real man would never do that." It bothered him that this resonated so much with her.

"I just wanna _do_ something, like…" Pam looked about helplessly, but her lit up once they fell upon her straw. Very business like, she tore up a small piece of her straw wrapper and rolled it up in a little ball. Then to Jim's shock, she popped it in her mouth. She got her straw and placed it delicately to her lips, then closed one of her eyes to aim more accurately. Jim watched, slack-jawed, as she proceeded to launch a spitball at "Mike". It hit him on the side of his thick neck, and he swatted at it like a mosquito. Realizing finally what it was, he looked around suspiciously, but Pam was already drinking inconspicuously from her glass of Coke.

Jim was amazed. "That…was…glorious." He announced slowly, and Pam giggled, pleased with his praise. He quickly removed his straw from his drink and prepared a launcher. He slyly brought his straw up to the corner of his mouth and sent a spitball into Mike's hair.

Pam gasped. "Well _done_ Halpert!" She laughed, preparing some more ammo.

"50 points for the ear." Jim whispered wickedly.

Jim and Pam reentered the office, still laughing. They had continued their assault on Mike all throughout their lunch, devising their own complex point system. Mike had grown more and more agitated, and Jim had decided that to remove themselves from suspicion they had to attack him from all angles. They would get up and shift around the room one at a time, going either to the bathroom or to look at the fish tank. Then, lightning quick they would spin around, fire, and then return to their table calmly. Pam almost began to cry with laughter when Mike began to accuse his friends, then the waiters. It was when Mike began to look at them suspiciously that they decided it was time to make their escape. Jim insisted on paying, and Pam felt guilty and pleased about it at the same time.

Jim sighed as he looked around the office. "Back here again…" He said wryly. He followed Pam back to her desk and leaned on the front as she sat behind it.

"How long as you worked here?" Pam asked suddenly, resting her head on her hands.

"Um, around two years I think. Yeah, two years." He nodded, surprised. "Why do you ask?"

"Just…it seems like you could do a lot more than this." Pam smiled, and Jim looked a little taken aback.

"I don't know," Jim shrugged, frowning. "It's just a job to make rent. While I'm sorting out what I really want to do with my life."

"What'd you major in in college?"

"English." Jim chuckled. "Just you know, the most general thing I could find." Pam laughed. "I don't know, maybe it'd be cool to be an English teacher or something. I just want to be sure before I lose the job I have here. I have a solid job." Jim realized it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than her. "Well, I should get back to work." He smiled softly and returned to his desk.

As Jim was coming out of the bathroom later, Dwight cornered him in the break room. "So, you're conspiring with the enemy now, is that it?!"

"What?" Jim said incredulously, forgetting about the ideas he had put in Dwight's head about Pam earlier.

"You're consorting with the _spy!!!_" Dwight accused, staring at Jim intensely.

"Firstly, there was no consorting. She has a fiancé." Jim tried to shake Dwight's hand off his shoulder. "And secondly _please_ don't touch me. Ever. Anyway," he continued "I'm just pumping her for information." He internally winced at the not so subtle dirty connotations of that sentence. He finally managed to shrug off Dwight's grip on his shoulder.

Dwight's grimace turned into a sly smile. "Alright Jim!" He cried, pumping his fist into the air. Jim rolled his eyes.

"Keep it down will you? You'll ruin my cover." Jim rolled his eyes and returned to his desk.

AN: Alright guys, any ideas of what should happen next? What do you want to see? Review!


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